Stand By Me
by autumnrose2010
Summary: Takes place in 1984, six years after the rescue. Ginger needs all the love and support she can get from her friends after she's diagnosed with a serious medical condition.
1. The Examination

**August 1984**

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Ginger exclaimed as she hugged her eighteen-year-old daughter good-bye.

"It's only a six-hour drive, Mom," Audrey replied. "I'll be able to come home often." She'd graduated high school in June and was about to start her freshman year at Stanford University. Despite Ginger's high hopes that her only daughter would follow in her footsteps and become an actress, Audrey had decided instead to become an astronaut like her father, Igor. She'd starred in numerous commercials and had even had a couple of bit parts in movies, but had ultimately left the acting life behind to concentrate on her studies. She hoped to be hired by NASA after graduating from Stanford.

"But it won't be the same as being able to see you any time we want!" Ginger, who'd never been separated from her daughter for longer than a couple of weeks at a time, protested.

"I love you, Mom," said Audrey. "I'm gonna miss you."

"We'll miss you too, sweetie," Ginger replied. "Please call us as soon as you can."

"I will, Mom." Audrey hugged and kissed Igor good-bye, and then she was gone.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without her," Ginger moaned.

"She have to grow up sometime." Igor gave his wife a comforting hug. "She is big girl now. She will be just fine, and we will finally have time just for ourselves."

"It's still a couple of weeks before filming starts for my new movie," Ginger replied. "Maybe I'll fly up to Ohio to visit Roy and Mary Ann again." Roy and Mary Ann Hinkley still lived in Ohio with their five-year-old daughter, Dawn, and their not-quite-two-year-old son, Dusty. Roy still worked as a professor at the university in the city where they lived, and Mary Ann was a stay-at-home Mom to Dawn and Dusty. "You can come too, if you'd like."

"I would love to go with you," Igor said with a smile. "Now that it will be just you and me, I look forward to spending much time with my lovely Ginger."

"Oh!" Ginger suddenly grasped her abdomen as she winced in pain.

"You have pain again, yes?" Igor looked at his wife in concern.

"It's probably just a hormonal thing," Ginger replied. "My annual check-up's in a couple of days. I'll get it checked out then."

* * *

><p>Dr. Green was silent as she conducted her examination. Ginger lay flat on her back on the hard table with her feet up in stirrups, trying her best to imagine that she was lying on the beach soaking up the sun instead. She thoroughly hated these awkward procedures and dreaded them with a passion. She couldn't wait for Dr. Green to tell her that she could get dressed and leave.<p>

Instead, the physician was very quiet for what seemed a much longer time than usual, for so long, in fact, that the redhead knew that something must be wrong. At last Dr. Green was finished. She told Ginger to get dressed and wait in the examination room until she returned.

After what seemed an interminable period, the physician finally reappeared. "You have a mass on your uterus," she told Ginger. "I'll have to schedule a biopsy as quickly as possible to determine whether or not it's malignant."

Ginger felt as if all the wind had just been knocked out of her. Cancer? At her age? In all the catastrophes she'd faced in her long-ago life as a castaway on an uncharted island, none of them had even come close to being as terrifying as this.


	2. The Diagnosis

Ginger was numb all over as she drove back home. All throughout the fifteen years she'd spent on the island and the six years since she'd returned to civilization, she'd barely been sick a day. And now this had happened. Why? She'd always tried so hard to take care of her health, eating only healthy foods and exercising regularly. And she wasn't even fifty years old yet. She had to fight back tears as she parked the car and walked into the house, where Igor had decided to surprise her by preparing dinner.

As soon as he saw her pale face, he knew that something was seriously wrong. "Ginger, darling!" His voice was full of concern as he went to her and put his arms around her. "What is wrong?"

"I have a mass on my uterus," Ginger mumbled into the front of his shirt. "I have to go for a biopsy next Thursday morning."

"I am sure that it will be all right," Igor murmured as he stroked her hair. "It is just to be safe, yes? Come, sit down. Dinner is almost ready. I am cooking Filet Mignon. It is favorite of yours, yes?"

"Oh, it smells delicious!" Ginger exclaimed.

"It will be ready in just one minute," her husband replied. "Salad is ready now. Spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, broccoli, onions, boiled eggs, and shrimp. Just like you like it, yes?"

"Mm." Ginger smiled. "You _do _know how to make me happy."

"As you know how to make _me _happy, as well." He winked at her, and she giggled.

After the meal, they sat on the sofa watching television together. A movie from 1963 in which Ginger had portrayed a surfer girl was on.

"I can't believe how _young _I look in this!" Ginger sighed as she leaned back against her husband's strong shoulder.

Igor chuckled. "You still look young," he assured her. "Nothing has really change. You are still same beautiful woman you were then, if not even more so."

"I remember how jealous I always was of Annette Funicello," Ginger reminisced. "She always seemed to get parts in the best movies. In fact, she and I were planning to try out for some of the same movies, and then the shipwreck happened..." Ginger looked very sad.

"That is all right." Igor patted his wife's knee comfortingly. "Just think of all parts in movies you have been offered since rescue. Annette Funicello is probably jealous of _you _now."

"Yeah." Ginger laughed, instantly feeling better.

* * *

><p>On the morning of the biopsy, Igor drove his wife to the clinic and sat in the waiting room with her holding her hand until they called her back. Before she left, he hugged and kissed her and told her he loved her.<p>

In the small white-walled room in which the procedure was to be done, she obediently removed all her clothing and lay back on the hard table, just as she'd done for her regular examination the previous week.

"Now I'm gonna give you something to make you really sleepy, Miss Ginger," the nurse said cheerfully. Normally her condescending attitude would have really irritated Ginger, but today she was too anxious to care.

Within moments the sedative had taken effect, and the procedure took on a vague, surrealistic quality. When it was over, Ginger was helped back to the waiting room.

"She did great," the technician told Igor, who put his arm around his wife and helped her back to the car. "Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," Ginger replied. "Just very, very sleepy."

"We will be home soon," he said.

Ginger slept for most of that day, awakening only for meals and restroom breaks. That night she slept with Igor's arms around her holding her tight, just like she did every night.

* * *

><p>Igor and Ginger were relaxing at home together when the eagerly anticipated telephone call came. Ginger grabbed the receiver on the second ring.<p>

"I'm afraid I have bad news," the nurse told her. "The cells we removed from your uterus were malignant. Dr. Green will have to perform a hysterectomy as soon as possible."


	3. Telling The Others

Numb with shock, Ginger could only listen as the nurse continued discussing pre-op appointments, consent forms, and other legalities. As soon as all the arrangements had been made, she dialed Mary Ann's telephone number in Ohio, praying that the brunette would be home. She couldn't imagine having to face major surgery without the support of her best friend.

In Ohio, Mary Ann was doing needlework while watching Dawn and Dusty play. She answered on the second ring.

"Oh, Mary Ann, you won't believe what's happened!" Ginger exclaimed after Mary Ann had said hello.

"What is it?" asked Mary Ann.

"I've got cancer!" Ginger gasped. "They're gonna take my uterus out!"

"Oh, Ginger, I'm so sorry!" Mary Ann replied. "When's it gonna happen?"

"I go for a pre-op in a couple of days," Ginger told her. "They'll schedule surgery then."

"I'll tell Roy just as soon as he gets home," Mary Ann said. "I'm sure he'll be able to take some time off so that we can fly to California."

Roy could tell that something was seriously wrong as soon as he saw his wife's face. In the more than twenty years they'd known one another, they'd both become quite skilled at reading one another's moods.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Ginger called," she replied. "She has cancer and is gonna have to have surgery soon. I told her we'd fly out to see her if we could."

"Of course we will," Roy assured her. "Poor girl! What kind of cancer does she have?"

"Uterine. They're gonna have to do a hysterectomy."

Roy gave a low whistle. "Well, at least she already has Audrey."

"Yes, but I know she never would have wanted this."

"Are you talking about Ginger Grant, the actress?" Roger asked excitedly. He was the twenty-year-old son of Roy's brother who'd moved in with the family a couple of years previously to attend the university where Roy taught.

"Yes," Roy told his nephew.

"I've always wanted to meet her," said Roger. "I guess now would be a bad time..."

"Oh, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you came along with us," Mary Ann assured him.

After dinner she called her cousin Cindy who lived in Kansas with her husband, Gilligan. "Mary Ann! What a lovely surprise!" Cindy exclaimed.

"Who is it, Mommy?" five-year-old April asked loudly.

"It's your cousin Mary Ann from Ohio," her mother told her with her hand over the receiver. "Now shush and let me talk to her."

"I'm afraid it isn't good news, Cindy," Mary Ann told her cousin. "Ginger Grant just found out she has cancer and has to have surgery."

"That's that actress who was rescued with you, right? I'll tell Gilligan right away! Gilligan, hon?"

Mary Ann heard a series of crashing noises, then Gilligan's voice. "Ow!"

"Are you all right, hon?" Cindy asked anxiously.

"That's OK." Gilligan giggled sheepishly. "I guess I didn't need that toe anyway,."

"Mary Ann's on the phone," Cindy told her husband. "She says Ginger has cancer and has to have surgery."

"What? Ginger has cancer?" Gilligan snatched the receiver away from his wife. "Mary Ann?"

"It's true, Gilligan," Mary Ann told her friend. "Ginger has cancer and they're gonna do a hysterectomy."

"What's that?"

"It's where they take her uterus out. She won't be able to have any more children."

"Poor Ginger! And the only baby she ever had was Audrey!"

"Well, that's just the way it worked out," Mary Ann replied. "She had Audrey, and then it was a long time before we were rescued, and by the time she and Igor finally got back together, he'd already had the rest of his family with another woman."

"But poor Ginger never had any more babies, and now she never can!"

"That's right. Roy and I want to visit her soon."

"So do I!" Gilligan exclaimed.

* * *

><p>At the Howell's mansion, the maid answered the telephone, then immediately passed it to Mrs. Howell.<p>

"Oh, dear, is she really?" Mrs. Howell asked a minute later. "Poor girl! Oh, yes, don't worry about that. We certainly will, and we'll buy tickets for Gilligan and his family to go as well. I'll tell Thurston right away!"

"What is it, Lovey?" asked her husband as he strolled into the sitting room in his dinner jacket.

"Ginger is very ill," his wife told him. "She has cancer of the feminine parts. I told Mary Ann we'd be there as soon as possible and that we'd buy tickets for the Gilligans to go as well."

"Of course we will!" Thurston agreed. "The poor dear!"

* * *

><p>In Hawaii, Skipper Jonas Grumby was happy to hear Mary Ann's voice. Although the former castaways had stayed in touch regularly for the first couple of years following their rescue, contact with one another had become less and less frequent as they'd all become readjusted to their normal lives, so Jonas was especially glad to hear from them on the increasingly rare occasions when one of them contacted him.<p>

"Hey, Mary Ann! What's up?"

"Ginger's got cancer, Skipper. She's gonna have to have surgery soon."

"Oh, no! Poor girl! I sure wish there was something I could do to help!"

"Roy and I are flying to California to be with her while she's going through all this. Gilligan and the Howells are planning to go too."

"Well, you can certainly count me in as well!"


	4. Telling Igor And Audrey

After telling Mary Ann the news, Ginger knew that there was no putting it off any longer. It was time to tell Igor of the cancer diagnosis. What would he do? Several of her friends had been deserted by their husbands after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Would things be different with Igor?

She went into the living room, where her husband sat on the sofa chatting with the family's maid, Claudia. He became alarmed at the sight of her pale face. Claudia, sensing that the couple wanted a moment alone, quietly excused herself.

"It's cancer," Ginger sobbed. Unable to hold the tears in any longer, she felt them course down her cheeks as her chest heaved with sobs.

"Darling!" Igor went to her and held her as she wept. When she could cry no more, he picked her up and carried her to the sofa and sat down. Tenderly he swept her damp red locks back from her face. "Surely there is something they can do?"

"They're...they're going to take my uterus out, Igor. I won't really be a woman anymore."

"But of course you will be! Why will you not?"

"Why, without my uterus, I'll be barren! A barren woman isn't a real woman!"

"That is not true, Ginger. You know that I have vasectomy many years ago. Do you think that I am not real man because of that?"

"Of course not, but that's different! You didn't have to have the vasectomy because of cancer!"

"It does not matter, sweetheart. They have to do surgery to save your life. I would much rather see you have surgery and live than not have it and die."

"I'm s-scared, Igor." Her bottom lip had begun to quiver again.

"I know you are, Ginger. But everything is going to be all right." Tenderly he began to place kisses all over her face, and she felt the fear slowly start to dissipate.

* * *

><p>"So what's it like to have a movie star for a mother?" asked Audrey's roommate, Cheryl.<p>

"All right, I guess. I never really thought much about it." To Audrey, her mother's profession had always simply been what she did for a living, nothing more.

Cheryl's eyes went wide. "What was it like growing up on that island with only seven other people who were all adults?" That was what she was really curious about.

Audrey shrugged. "To me it just seemed normal at the time. The first time I met someone my own age after we'd been rescued was really special. That was something I'd always wanted, to meet another kid like myself."

"And what was it like to meet your father for the first time?"

"That was even _more _special. I'd never even seen a picture of him before, so I didn't really know what he looked like, but my Mom had always told me that he had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes like me, so when I finally met him and saw that it was true, I was really happy. It was like a great mystery from my past had been solved."

Just then the telephone rang. Audrey grabbed the receiver. "Oh, hi, Dad!" she exclaimed when she heard her father's voice.

"Audrey, you must come home as soon as you can," Igor told his daughter. "Your mother have cancer and need operation soon."

"Oh, no!" Audrey felt all the blood drain from her face. "Is she there? Can I speak to her?"

"She is resting. I will get her." A few minutes later, Ginger greeted her daughter.

"Mom! Are you all right? I'm so worried about you!"

"I have uterine cancer, Audrey. They're going to do a hysterectomy."

Ginger sounded so sad that Audrey became even more worried about her. "I'm so sorry, Mom. Do they think that will take care of it, or are you gonna have to have chemotherapy too?"

"They think that they can get all of it, and I won't have to have chemotherapy or radiation."

"Thank goodness for that! At least you'll get to keep your hair. I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, sweetie."

"That was my Dad," Audrey told Cheryl. "I have to go back home. My Mom has cancer."

* * *

><p>Audrey was back home within hours. Igor met her on the front porch.<p>

"Dad!" She ran to him, and they embraced tightly. "How is she?"

"She is all right for now. She is resting." Audrey could tell that her father was near tears. Silently she followed him into the house, where she saw that her mother was reclining on the sofa.

"Mom!" she cried, rushing to hug Ginger.

"Hello, sweetheart. I'm so glad you're here." Mother and daughter shared a tearful embrace. Igor watched from the doorway with tears in his eyes.


	5. Reunion

Accompanied by her husband, Ginger went for her pre-op appointment the following day. She held Igor's hand tightly as the nurse explained the procedure, how long it would take, and possible complications, then asked if Ginger had any questions. The redhead shook her head.

"You see, it will not be so bad," Igor said on the way home. "Couple of hours, and cancer will be gone."

_So will my femininity, _Ginger wanted to say, but didn't.

* * *

><p>Roy, Mary Ann, and Roger were the first to arrive. Igor, Ginger, and Audrey went to the airport to meet them.<p>

"Ginger, honey!" Mary Ann hurried to embrace her long-time friend. The two women held one another and cried.

"Good to see you again, Igor." Roy shook the taller man's hand. "I only wish it were under better circumstances."

"As do I," Igor replied. "I will be very happy when this is all over."

"We all will be," Roy agreed.

Roger took one look at Audrey and gasped. He thought she was the loveliest young women he'd ever seen. She was tall and slender, with Ginger's facial features and Igor's dark hair and eyes.

"My name is Roger Hinkley," he said shyly, shaking her hand.

She smiled. "My full name is Audrey Elizabeth Igorevna Grant-Rubichenko," she told him. "But you can just call me Audrey. Everyone else does."

"Wow, what a name!"

Audrey giggled. "You can blame my Dad for that. Until I was twelve, I was just plain Audrey Elizabeth Grant."

"Was that how old you were when you were rescued?"

"Yeah. My Mom and Dad got back together right after that."

"It seems so sad that you didn't know your Dad until you were twelve. My parents have both always been there for me since I was born."

"It was all right. Roy was a great father figure. He's the one who first got me interested in science. Gilligan was such a big kid himself that he was more like a big brother to me, and the Skipper and Mr. Howell were both a lot older." Audrey turned pensive. "I slept in the same hut with Mom and Mary Ann for my whole life on the island. Mary Ann was like a second mother to me. I really missed her for a long time after we were rescued, more than the others, even."

The Hinkleys went back home with the Grant-Rubichenkos. There were enough extra bedrooms for everyone.

"Your house is really gorgeous!" Roger exclaimed, suddenly feeling terribly insecure as he wondered what Audrey would think of his own parents' modest home back in Ohio. "And it's so big!"

"It's not my house," Audrey replied. "It's my Mom's, but thanks. I wonder why Roy never told us about you."

"I was only a baby when he was shipwrecked," Roger told her. "I'm his nephew. I'm living with him and Mary Ann and their kids while I'm in college. He's actually the professor for one of my classes."

"Neat! What are you majoring in?"

"Biology. You?"

"Astronomy. I want to be an astronaut like my Dad used to be, and if I can't do that, I want to be some kind of engineer."

"So you're smart as well as beautiful, then."

Audrey blushed furiously.

* * *

><p>The Howells arrived the following morning. "Oh, you poor dear!" Mrs. Howell exclaimed as she rushed to hug Ginger. Mr. Howell didn't say much, pacing back and forth with a lost look on his face.<p>

Gilligan, Cindy, and their brood arrived that evening. Both Gilligan and Cindy gaped in wonder at the sight of Ginger's house. April and Heather had a blast running up and down the hallways and staircases. Ginger held baby Patrick and gushed about how darling and sweet he was, then reluctantly handed him back to Cindy.

That night, Igor was awakened by the sound of his wife softly sobbing. He put his arms around her and held her close. "Are you in pain, _moya lyubov?" _

"N-no," she stammered. "I just can't get Patrick out of my mind. He's such a precious little baby. I just can't help but wonder what it would have been like to have had a son."

"We have beautiful daughter, sweet Ginger," Igor said softly. "One day, we will have beautiful grandchildren as well."

"If I'm still alive by then," Ginger sniffled.

"You will live," Igor assured her. "Doctor will get all of cancer out, and you will be well again."

* * *

><p>Skipper Jonas Grumby arrived at the airport the day before Ginger's surgery was scheduled to take place. All the former castaways except the Howells were staying with Ginger and Igor. The Howells had rented a luxury suite at a local motel.<p>

"Skipper!" Ginger cried, hugging him fiercely. Even after six years, she still called him by his title instead of his name.

"I got here just as fast as I could," Jonas told her. His eyes wandered to just beyond her, where Claudia stood looking on.

"Hey, I'm the Skipper!" he exclaimed in his usual enthusiastic manner as he moved to shake her hand.

Claudia smiled. "I am Claudia. I have been Ginger's maid for six years now. It is nice to meet you, Mr. Skipper."

"Uh, my real name is Jonas Grumby," Jonas said awkwardly. "When we were still on the island, the others always called me the Skipper and Roy the Professor."

"Oh yes, I remember reading about that," Claudia replied. The two were soon deeply engrossed in conversation, as Ginger and Igor went to check on their other guests.


	6. The Operation

"I feel just like a lamb about to be led to slaughter," Ginger told her husband. She'd just been admitted to the hospital and now lay in bed in her room waiting to be taken to surgery. Igor sat beside her, holding her hand.

"It will soon be all over, and you will be healthy again," Igor replied soothingly.

_Cancer free, perhaps, but missing an important part of my body, _Ginger wanted to say, but didn't.

An orderly arrived. "Ready to go for a ride?" he asked pleasantly.

"Good-bye for now, sweet Ginger." Igor kissed his wife's forehead."I see you again really soon. I love you."

"I love you, too." She clung tightly to his hand, reluctantly letting go at the last minute. Igor watched until the stretcher carrying his wife turned a corner, then joined the others in the waiting room.

"She is in surgery now," he announced, then joined his friends for what would seem to them a long wait.

Jonas, Gilligan, and Roy sat talking quietly together. Mr. Howell read the 'Wall Street Journal' while his wife read 'People' magazine. Mary Ann tried to concentrate on her knitting but kept having to unravel and repeat rows. Audrey walked a little way down the hallway, and Roger followed her. He found her standing beside a newspaper dispenser. The headline of the newspaper on top declared 'Movie Star And Former Castaway Ginger Grant Diagnosed With Cancer, Faces Surgery.'

_"This _is what it's like to have a movie star for a mother!" Audrey was practically shouting, and Roger could tell that she was near tears. "Your family's most private business is paraded right out in the open for the whole world to see!"

"I'm sorry," said Roger. He couldn't think of anything else to say.

"It wasn't so bad before," Audrey continued, calmer now. "I'd pretty much gotten used to it. But my Mom never had cancer before."

"I know that's tough." _The flip side of being rich and famous, _he mused.

"It's bad enough that we have to worry about whether or not she's going to be all right, but to know that complete strangers are reading all about it over their morning coffee is just..horrible!"

"Think about it this way," Roger suggested. "The more complete strangers who know about what's happened to your Mom, the more people she'll have to wish her well."

"Yeah, I guess so." Audrey sighed. "That makes me feel a _little _bit better."

Roger smiled gently. "I'm glad."

* * *

><p>Mary Ann suddenly noticed that Igor was no longer in the waiting room. Curious, she went in search of him, eventually finding him sitting on a pew in the hospital chapel, sobbing his heart out.<p>

"Igor!" Instantly alarmed, she went to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her with big tears streaming down his face.

"I cannot stand to lose her," he said. "If something happen, if she die, then I cannot bear it. I cannot live without my Ginger."

"Aw, she's not gonna die!" said Mary Ann. "She's got the best doctors in the world, and they're doing everything they can for her. She'll be fine, Igor!"

"Maybe. But what if she is not?"

"Would you feel better if I stayed here with you for a little while?"

"I would like that very much, Mary Ann."

Several hours later, the physician came into the waiting room to talk to Igor and Audrey. "The operation was successful," he told them. "There was some bleeding, but we quickly got it under control. She'll be back in her room in about an hour or so. You can see her then."

"Thank God!" Igor exclaimed. He and Audrey embraced one another.

* * *

><p>Ginger felt dizzy and disoriented at first. Gradually her vision returned to normal, and she realized that she was staring up at the lights of the recovery room at the hospital.<p>

_It's all over. My uterus is gone. _She had to blink back the tears.

"How do you feel?" asked a nurse.

"My throat is dry," Ginger complained. "And I feel queasy."

"That's just a side effect of the anesthesia," the nurse told her. "It'll pass very shortly."

The nurse offered her a small cup of ice water, and she eagerly gulped it down. She knew that she'd be taken to her regular hospital room soon, and she didn't look forward to it. She dreaded facing Igor. How would he feel about her, now that she no longer had her womb?


	7. Recuperation

"She's just been taken back to her room," the nurse told Igor and Audrey. "You may go back and see her now."

Father and daughter entered the room to find Ginger staring forlornly at the television, which was not on. "Sweetheart!" Eagerly Igor went to his wife and, mindful of her IV, gathered her into his arms in a fierce hug.

Ginger, comforted by the familiar scent of her husband's aftershave, clung to him. "It's over, Igor," she whispered.

"Yes, it is all over now, _moya lyubov," _Igor murmured. "All that is left is for you to get strong and healthy again."

"My uterus is gone," Ginger continued.

"Yes, and I am glad that it is gone, because it is what make you sick. Now that it is gone, you are all better again."

Audrey hugged her next. "Mom." She was near tears.

"Sweetheart," said Ginger. "Now you're forever my one and only. I always wished I could give you a brother or sister."

"That's all right, Mom. I know it's not your fault."

"We were on that island for so long..." Ginger's voice trailed off.

"I enjoyed growing up there, Mom. The Prof...Roy and Mary Ann were the best, Gilligan was always so much fun, and everyone else was great as well. I'll always treasure all those special memories."

"So will I," Ginger replied.

"There is one memory that I will always hold dear," Igor put in. "That is the day I see my sweet Ginger again. I think that I will never see her again, that I will be man alone for rest of my life, and then miracle happen. I find her again, and not only that, but also beautiful daughter that I did not even know I had."

"I never forgot you, you know, the entire time we were stranded on that island," said Ginger. "Every time I looked at Audrey, I saw you. That dark hair, those eyes, that scientific mind..."

Igor smiled and gave her hand an affectionate squeeze. "Others are here as well, but if you do not feel like seeing them now, it is all right. I will tell them to wait until later."

"Oh, no, that's all right!" Ginger exclaimed. "I can't wait to see them all again."

Roy and Mary Ann were first. Mary Ann eagerly embraced her friend. "Oh, Ginger!" She took a good look at the redhead and saw how pale and tired she looked. "You poor thing!"

"How are Dawn and Dusty?" asked Ginger.

"They're both fine! Here's the most recent picture of them." Mary Ann showed her friend the photograph.

"They're beautiful!" Ginger smiled weakly. "Dawn looks just like a younger version of you, and Dusty's the spitting image of Roy."

Roy embraced Ginger. "I've done an intensive study of the type of cancer you were diagnosed with," he told her. "I learned that with surgery, the prognosis is excellent."

Ginger wanted to tell him that she was more concerned with the prognosis for her marriage but knew that she couldn't discuss such matters with Roy.

Gilligan and Cindy were next. Cindy regaled Ginger with stories of her children's latest antics while Gilligan nosed about all the medical equipment, in the process tripping over a cord and accidentally unplugging a monitor.

Next the Howells visited and and asked if Ginger needed any financial help with the medical expenses. Ginger thanked them and told them that everything had already been taken care of.

Last was Jonas, who entered with Claudia, as the two of them had been chatting together for awhile in the waiting room. After they left, Ginger was very tired.

"Rest now, _moya lyubov." _Tenderly Igor stroked her hair. "You deserve it."

* * *

><p>Ginger spent several days recuperating in the hospital. Her friends were able to spend a few days visiting with her but then had to return to their own lives. Audrey also had to go back to school a short time after the operation, but Igor never left his wife's side. He constantly lavished loving care on her, catering to her every desire, returning only briefly to their home to take care of necessary business every so often.<p>

Several days after her surgery, when she was more awake and alert than she'd been the first day, Ginger's husband brought her a giant get-well card.

"Mark and Jennifer send this for you," he told her. Thirteen-year-old Mark and eleven-year-old Jennifer were his children from his first marriage. "They are sorry they cannot come to visit. They would miss too much school."

The card was made of poster board. A recent photograph of Mark and Jennifer had been glued to the center, and they'd decorated it with hearts cut from red construction paper. Mark had written 'Get well soon, Ginger! We love you!' beneath the photograph, and they'd both signed it.

Ginger was moved to tears. "They love me!" she exclaimed.

Igor laughed. "Of _course _they love you! You are their family!"


	8. A Very Romantic Night

_Warning: this chapter contains some 'M' rated material_

"You've made an excellent recovery," Dr. Green told Ginger. "Everything's completely back to normal. You may resume all your normal activities." She winked at the redhead.

"But won't it be different now?" asked Ginger.

"You may experience some minor physical symptoms, but there are medications that can help with that. I'll give you some samples before you leave."

"Is that all?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, won't it feel different, knowing that an important part of my body is gone now?"

"Just because you can no longer become pregnant doesn't mean that you can no longer enjoy a healthy sex life," Dr. Green replied. "In fact, many women enjoy sex even more than before with the fear of pregnancy gone."

"I never had a fear of pregnancy," said Ginger. "I always secretly wished that I could have another child, but Igor had a vasectomy after Jennifer was born."

"Well, it doesn't really make any difference then, does it?" The physician placed a comforting hand on Ginger's arm. "I'm really sorry, Ginger. But look at it this way. At least you have a beautiful, healthy daughter, and you'll have lovely grandchildren someday."

Ginger arrived home to the delicious aroma of Igor cooking her favorite meal and saw that he'd dimmed all the lights and lit candles. As she entered the house, he hurried to meet her, hugging and kissing her eagerly. Ginger could smell his aftershave, which was her favorite scent.

"How did doctor visit go?" he asked.

Ginger smiled. "She said I could resume all my normal activities."

"Good!" he exclaimed. He pulled her chair out for her and motioned for her to sit. "Please have seat. Delicious food will be served soon."

Ginger could tell that her husband had really gone all out to please her. He started by serving her a salad and delicious hors d'oeuvers with a glass of her favorite wine, then followed that with a main course that was beyond her wildest dreams and a mouth-watering dessert.

"This must have taken you most of the day to prepare," she said.

"You are worth it," he replied.

After dinner, Igor stocked all the dirty plates in the sink. Ginger started to help, but he wouldn't let her. "I will do all work. You sit down and relax."

Later he took her by the hand and led her into the bathroom, where she found the bathtub filled with steaming hot water with rose petals floating on top. It was surrounded by lit candles, and the air was heavily perfumed with Ginger's favorite scent, Gardenia.

"I can't believe it! A bath too!" Ginger exclaimed. "You're really spoiling me tonight!"

"You deserve it," Igor replied. "Sad time is behind us now, sweet Ginger. Only happy time from now on."

Quickly he shed all his clothing, and Ginger did the same. Then he took her hand and they stepped into the bathtub together, where they spent a luxurious few minutes lovingly washing one another off and then drying off with big, fluffy towels.

At last Igor gently picked his wife up and carried her to the bedroom, which was also lit by candles and heavily scented with burning incense. As Ginger nestled luxuriously in the soft comfort of the cool sheets, all her concerns were forgotten, and all that mattered was that she was safe and secure with the man she loved.

She felt the mattress sink slightly as Igor joined her on the bed and began to kiss and fondle her. She reached down between his legs to stroke him, and he was hard in almost no time.

Right away she scooted down the bed until her mouth was level with his genitals, and he gasped with delight as she took him into her mouth and began to pleasure him, at the same time using her fingers to stimulate his most sensitive areas.

"Oh, Ginger, you do know how to make me feel good!" he groaned. A stream of passionate Russian followed, and when he began to thrust madly, they changed positions. She parted her legs for him, and right away his fingers and tongue were there, gently separating her slick folds and flicking over her most sensitive spot.

As she felt her orgasm begin to wash over her, he entered her, intensifying her pleasure immensely as he hit her G spot. "Oh my God, yes!" she cried, digging her fingernails into his back as she arched up to meet him.

It was over within moments, and they lay together clinging to one another and gasping for breath. Igor's fingers lightly brushed a strand of hair back from Ginger's cheek. "You are all right, Ginger?"

"Igor...oh, Igor..." Suddenly she was sobbing.

"Ginger! You are hurt?" Instantly alarmed, he gathered her into his arms.

She shook her head. "No...no. It's just that everything is so perfect right now, I don't want it to ever end. I wish I could just stay right here with you like this forever."

Igor chuckled softly. "Dearest Ginger, we will have many, many more nights like this, I promise you."

She yawned. "Go to sleep now, _moya lyubov." _He held her and stroked her back as she drifted into a contented sleep.


	9. A Surprise Visitor

"You're almost as tall as me now!" Ginger told Mark as she embraced him. "And you look more like your father every time I see you!"

The gangly thirteen-year-old grinned and blushed, looking at the ground.

"And you've grown to be such a beautiful girl!" Ginger continued to Jennifer.

"Thank you," the eleven-year-old said shyly. Ginger noticed that she now had breasts and was developing curves in all the right places. She had to swallow a lump in her throat when she realized how much Jennifer reminded her of Audrey at the same age.

Igor laughed. "Soon we will have to fight boys away, yes?"

"Are you doing all right now?" Mark asked his stepmother after he'd greeted Audrey. "Jennifer and I were both really worried when Dad told us you had cancer."

"I'm doing fine now," Ginger told him. "There's been no trace of any cancer since my surgery, so Dr. Green's pretty sure she got it all."

Mark and Jennifer were visiting for Christmas, as they did every year. Audrey was also home from the university for a couple of weeks, and she and her parents had gone to the airport to visit her half siblings.

"That's great!" Mark told his stepmother. He was tall with dark hair and eyes, and he looked astonishingly like a younger version of Igor.

The family left the airport and returned home, where Mark and Jennifer took their luggage to the rooms they used when they were visiting. "It is so nice to all be together again," Igor murmured as he hugged and kissed his wife.

"It's good to see them again," Ginger agreed. She knew how much her husband missed his two younger children when they were in Minnesota with their mother.

"I cannot believe how much they grow since summer!" Igor remarked.

"That seems like forever ago," Ginger said softly. "It was before I got sick."

"And now you are all healthy again, so story have happy ending." Igor grinned and gave her a quick hug.

All the former castaways called to wish Ginger and her family a merry Christmas, and when the Skipper called, he asked to speak to Claudia.

"Jonas!" the maid exclaimed happily when she heard his voice.

"Hi!" Jonas said. "I was here all alone and got to thinking about you and wondering how you've been. It seems like such a long time since the last time we saw each other."

"We're all fine!" Claudia replied. "Mark and Jennifer are here now, so we're all together."

"That's nice." Although he loved the independent, carefree life he lived in Hawaii, he sometimes wished he had someone to share the holidays with. They chatted a few minutes longer and then said good-bye.

Several days later, Audrey received a pleasant surprise when she opened the door to find Roger standing there with a big smile. "Come on in!" she exclaimed happily. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"I decided I wanted to spend Christmas with my favorite girl this year," Roger told her.

"Hurray! Mom, Dad, look who's here!"

He took her out to dinner and a movie that night. Igor and Ginger watched from a window as they rode away. "My little girl's all grown up now." Igor saw that there were tears in his wife's eyes.

"You raise her to be wonderful lady, like yourself. I am so very proud of both of you."


	10. The First Castaway Grandchild

**1992**

"He's the most beautiful baby in the world!" Mary Ann exclaimed as she looked through the nursery window at Roger and Audrey's new son, Ryan Paul Hinkley.

"He's a little cutie, all right," Roy agreed. All the former castaways had flown to California to meet the first castaway grandchild. Jonas and Claudia were now married and living together in Hawaii. The Howells still lived in New York City, Roy, Mary Ann, Dawn, and Dusty in Ohio, and Gilligan and Cindy with their ever increasing family in Kansas.

In Audrey's hospital room, Igor, Ginger, and Roger sat at her bedside talking. "I'll bet Ryan's birth was really different from mine, wasn't it?" Audrey asked her mother.

"Was it ever!" Ginger laughed. "Mary Ann and I were alone in our hut when my contractions started. Mary Ann went to get Roy, but he wasn't in his hut, so she sent Gilligan to look for him. As it turned out, he was looking for seashells on the other side of the island to make a necklace for Mary Ann. Anyway, you were born before he got back, so Mary Ann had to deliver you herself."

"Wow, that sure must have been scary!" Audrey exclaimed.

"It was," Ginger agreed. "Everything turned out fine in the end, though."

"I miss birth of my daughter," said Igor. "But I am here for birth of grandson."

"It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," said Ginger, who'd witnessed her grandson's birth.

"You did really well," Roger told his wife.

"I can't wait for Mark and Jennifer to meet him," said Audrey.

Just then, the nurse entered with a whimpering Ryan. "Somebody's hungry," she said. She handed the baby to Audrey, who began to nurse him.

Igor reached for his wife's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Hard to believe we are grandparents now," he said to her. "Time pass very quickly, yes?"

"It sure does," Ginger agreed. "And I can't wait to watch Ryan grow up together with you. You missed most of Audrey's childhood. I'm so glad you'll be here for Ryan's."

"Family is all together now, never to be parted again," Igor said tenderly.

"That's right," Ginger replied.


End file.
